How Can Running Not Hurt Your Knees?

Not long ago, a BBC documentary, "The Truth About Fitness," scientifically explained the common misconceptions of sports in our daily lives, including the truth about whether running hurts the knee.

Fitness machine supplier believes that running does not only hurt the knee joint, but also benefits the knee joint.

This is because the regular stress generated by running can bring more oxygen and nutrients into the articular cartilage, which can help cartilage repair and growth.

Professor Michael found it unbelievable, so Brewer asked him to do an experiment comparing knee pressure.

In the experiment, Michael put on the susceptor on his knee, then walked a certain distance at the designated position, and then he ran the same distance again.

The computer then analyzes the pressure on the knees while walking and running. The red bar shows the impact on the feet when running. As the majority of people think, the impact of running on the knee is obviously greater.

Although running on the knees is more stressful than walking, the time it takes to cause stress is shorter. Generally speaking, the time that running produces stress is only half of the time that walking produces stress, because a person has a larger stride when running, and his foot and ground contact time is shorter.

Although the impact of running on the knee is indeed greater than walking, scientists have also compared the time that that force acts on the knee. If this factor is added, the result is unexpected.

The histogram obtained from the recalculation shows that compared to walking, the impact force per meter you run is actually lower and much lower, almost half of the walking.

From this point of view, running does not actually hurt the knee. In fact, about 50% -70% of running injuries in the running enthusiast group are manifested as overuse injuries.

The problem of "running the knee" is specifically: Will running cause damage to knee joint tissues due to excessive use?

In fact, running may encounter various problems of knee joint damage. The direct cause is excessive use, that is, too much running, too little rest, and running posture deviation, which causes the exercise load to exceed the adaptability of the knee joint.

Although studies have said that running does not hurt the knee, why do so many people suffer knee injuries because of running?

I. Knee injuries caused by running in an unsatisfactory running position, which is common in first runners

From a medical point of view, when running, the knees move normally forward, the contact surface between the sacrum and the femur is the largest, and the strength can be evenly distributed. Metatarsal valgus or internal rotation accelerates cartilage wear on the contact surface. This will not only affect running in the future, but even walking and going up and down stairs will become a problem.

Fitness machine 

In summary, there are three main aspects of running postures that hurt knees:

1. Excessive forward leaning or leaning back, stiff upper body or shrugging;

2. The entire leg is straight. First, it can increase the impact of the knee. Second, it cannot mobilize the thigh muscles to share the weight, and increase the knee pressure in disguise.

3. The stride is too large, the center of gravity of the body is far away from the supporting feet, and the quadriceps muscles need to use more force to maintain the balance of the body and increase the degree of tension of the hip and femoral joints.

So if you want to reduce the probability of knee injury, you need to learn the ideal running position.

1. The body leans forward slightly to provide assistance for moving forward and save effort;

2. Knee forward flexion, easy to mobilize the thigh muscles, share pressure, and play a buffering role. At the same time, increase the contact area of the zygomatic and femoral joints, which is beneficial to evenly distribute pressure and reduce friction

3. When landing, the center of gravity should be closer to the supporting feet, so that the quadriceps muscles do not need to use too much force to maintain the body balance, and the patellar and femoral joints are lightly pulled.

Second, unreasonable running volume

Many runners pursue performances, such as running 330, 310, or 300 in the whole horse, so the cumulative amount of day and night running is 200 kilometers a month is relatively small, and more can reach 500-600 kilometers.

Crazy fit massage: First, there is not enough time for the body to recover, so it is easy to get injured. Second, it is easy to cause sacroiliac tibia friction syndrome, an injury that manifests as pain on the outside of the knee.

Some runners ran 30 kilometers last week, and this week they jumped to 60 kilometers. This sudden increase in running volume also easily caused knee injuries.

Therefore, according to your own situation, such as age, weight, heart rate and other factors, make a training plan and training volume that suits you, and leave enough time for the body to recover, don't take the risk.

Third, do not warm up, do not stretch

Warm-up before running is to activate the muscles of the legs, back, shoulders, etc., so that the body can enter the state of exercise faster in the early stages of running, avoiding muscle strain, knee and other joint injuries, cramps and other conditions.

Stretching after running is to relax the muscles after exercise, avoid excessive tension, cause muscle and knee soreness, and affect the next exercise. In addition to relaxing the muscles after running, they can also make the muscle lines look better.

No strength training

Running is the simplest exercise, with only forward-backward movement, and no left-right, rotation and other directions. Many people know about running and running, but they don't know that under the state of unbalanced muscle strength, the more you run, the more likely it is that your forward and backward muscle strength is stronger than your side muscle strength.

What will happen? That is, the zygomatic bone is crooked, the pelvic bone is crooked, the foot is turned inward, and the zygomatic tibia is tightened. And these are the reasons that cause your running knee injury.

Maybe your running posture is ideal enough, maybe your running volume is suitable, maybe you have done warm-up before running and stretch after running, but your knee is still injured. At this time, we should check whether our physical strength is sufficient, especially the muscle strength of the hips.

If your physical strength is insufficient, then when you increase the running distance, especially when running on a whole horse, the more you run to the back, the easier it is to deform your running position, which can cause knee injuries. And once your running position is deformed, then you can't cushion the ground reaction force well, and over time your knee will be injured.

To sum it up in one sentence: correct running is good for the health of the knee joint, and incorrect running will damage the knee.

These include unsatisfactory running posture, unreasonable running volume, no warm-up, no stretching, no strength training. Improper running exceeds the load of the knee joint tissue. Whether running on the road or on a treadmill, it may cause knee injuries.

Back to the original question, how to protect the knee and prevent knee injury in life?

Commercial strength equipment supplier reminds you: First, pay attention to controlling the amount of exercise and rest if you feel pain in your knee. In addition, it is very important, what do we want to do if the knee joint is not injured? Not by protective gear, but by muscles. Practice your muscle strength more often, plus your responsiveness, sensitivity, and more. Of course, you also need to learn to pay attention to rest, it is not good to practice too much.

In addition, knees are more likely to be injured in cold winters, so you should keep your knees warm in winter and spring.